Cacophony
by esama
Summary: Maybe it was the hallucination of an insomniac or the overactive imagination of a genius, but Kira was still there, standing over Light, and there was nothing L could do.


**Cacophony**

L woke up to the feeling of a presence, the sort of tingling sensation in the back of his neck that told that he was watched, that there was someone close by who could see him whilst he could not see them. It was not a sensation he was adjusted to, as he slept very rarely and usually in complete security. And how could it wash over him now? Even Watari knew better than to approach him whilst he slept, knowing how much it unnerved L to have people see him whilst sleeping.

Light. Of course. L had not meant to fall asleep in Light's presence but it was unavoidable. Even he could not put off sleep for as long as he had, no matter how he tried. After a moment of tenseness and anxiety under the unnerving feeling, he forced himself to relax. He should've made safer arrangements, he should've had Light chained to his bed for the night, or at least locked in a safe - monitored - room rather than suffer his presence day and night and thus be forced to push back the irritating need to rest…

L quickly pushed the idea aside - because it made it seem like he had made the wrong choice and he knew he hadn't. Light needed around-the-clock surveillance, not by cameras and sound detectors but by one who could analyze everything he did, then weigh and judge it. Light could not be left to his own devices when so little made sense and the truth lay inside him alone… all the truths.

Looking up from his knees, L spent a split second recognizing that he had fallen asleep while sitting on the floor beside the bed. There was a laptop open beside him, the pass-word protected screensaver idly bouncing a lone letter around the screen. He had been working, going through files and reports and data… like he usually did when Light slept.

The detective eyed the laptop for a moment before turning his eyes upwards. He had woken to a presence, so he expected to see Light awake, and looking down on him. His mere sleeping presence wouldn't have been enough to wake him, surely. Light's manner of sleeping was, after all, almost unnervingly silent and peaceful.

But Light was not looking down on him. The bed was still, the room was silent and by the looks of it, Light was still lying down. After moment of silent stillness, L shifted forward until his weight rested on his feet and stood up fluently to minimize the noise caused by the chain. Light _was_ sleeping, silent like a doll, on his back with his hands resting atop the covers. What a very _Light_-like way of sleeping. Still and perfect.

Nothing like L who couldn't sleep at all unless he was curled as close to himself as possible. And even then he avoided sleep as much as he could because it was _unnerving_ and a waste of time. And all the hundreds of reports of murders and murder-suicides and assaults and such that had happened to sleeping victims were not likely to make L like the concept of such voluntary unconsciousness any more.

He rarely put it in such words but sleep was a weakness. He could do without it easily, better even. How a person like _Light_ could not only do it, but do it systematically, L wasn't sure. Light was so much like him that it would've made more sense if Light would've had similar approach to sleep as he did, but instead Light wanted - _demanded_ even - at least seven hours of solid rest each night and usually at exactly same time. Weakness - especially a scheduled one - wasn't like Light at all…

Well, everyone had their quirks and L had to admit, regular sleep cycle did Light good. Insomnia had had a detrimental effect on L's outwards appearance, and Light was quite an attractive young man. Sometimes L could almost see how Light wielded his appearance and facial structure like a mask or like a weapon and having that weapon dulled wouldn't do at all.

The detective stared down to the sleeping younger man and lifted his hand up to bite the tip of his thumb absently. Nothing in Light's appearance indicated that he had been the reason L had woken up. The breathing pattern was too calm - not rigorously controlled like in an attempt to fake sleep, but calm, steady with occasional deeper breath and slower exhale. Light was not faking sleep but actually sleeping, his eyes moving slightly beneath his closed lids as he dreamed.

Then what…? Logic told L that there could be no one else in the room. The entire floor was locked, Watari slept on a different floor, and only the three of them were in the building right now. Watari could, of course, enter every room on every floor if he so wished, but he knew better than disturb L during the night. If he did, it was because of something serious. And he would've alerted L's attention by a knock.

Still, L allowed his eyes to take in the room. It was comfortable but rather Spartan with only the bed, two wardrobes and table with no chair. The door on his left which led to the bathroom and the door on his right which led to the hall - hall which led to the kitchen, other rooms and eventually to the elevator and stairs…

L's breathing hitched. He could feel a glare on the base of his neck, heated and cold at the same time, causing him to whirl around instantly. The chain between his and Light's hands clinked restlessly as his eyes met gaze that could only be described as _smouldering_. Eyes gleaming like hot embers, like acidic blood pinned L to his place, and for a second he was too shocked to see anything but two gleaming disks of the most violent red he had ever seen.

His mouth fell open in shock. The eyes belonged to a man who looked almost exactly like Yagami Light. Neat hair that almost fell into the red eyes, smooth, handsome face, neatly ironed suit, impeccable posture… like Light's, except the colouring was completely off. This man's hair was bloody auburn to match the horrible eyes, the suit he was wearing was pitch black, as was his tie. And the expression… it was the purest, deepest loathing and hate L had ever seen.

_KIRA._ The thought soared through L's mind like a wind made of razorblade memories and thoughts. The detective started, standing up straight for the first time in years. The man with burning eyes and Light's face did nothing, merely kept staring at him from where he was leaning against the wall, staring like he wanted nothing more than to rip L apart.

L said nothing but his thoughts were flying. The theory of an unwitting-Kira, of Light acting as Kira without his knowledge or control, the thought of First Kira, Second Kira and the current, Third Kira… he had had theories, hundreds and hundreds of theories, some of them plausible but most of them ridiculous, and among them there had been a fleeting thought of _possession_.

After all, Kira's power was otherworldly, unnatural. It was well beyond any measure of human talents or technologies to kill people by face and name alone. If _that_ was somehow possible, then why not other things as well? Maybe Kira's power was not alone. Maybe there was a _will_ behind it… will the current Yagami Light lacked. The will to _kill_ and _kill_ and _kill_ without remorse or doubt. Maybe that will had possessed Light. Maybe it had touched Amane Misa. Maybe it had abandoned them both as useless when they had been caught - or in Light's case surrendered - and moved onto a third host…

L would've loved to say that it was impossible because how could he find an entity that could possess people guilty, but as he stared at this apparition, this fire eyed man who was glaring murder and cold death at him, the chances of that theory were increasing. What had been a mere fraction of a percentage was getting a solid number, two and half percent and rising…

"How did you get here?" L finally spoke to the apparition with Light's face - because it could not be anything but an apparition. It wouldn't have gotten into the building if it had been real.

The fire eyed man's lips curled into a smug smirk that seemed to only strengthen the horrible gleam of his eyes. Without saying anything he pushed away from the wall and took a step closer, then another. L stood his ground, even though a shiver of unease tingled up and down his spine, until finally they were standing face to face. The detective could almost imagine the heat of the apparition's eyes, burning wherever the gaze fell.

"L," the apparition spoke, his voice holding the soft tone that was in Light's voice. The red eyes were gleaming even more and the smirk on the apparition's face was widening into a look of malicious delight. "Lawliet."

L froze, his eyes widening fractionally. Before he could answer, deny, anything, the apparition let out a low chuckle and stepped closer, close enough to lean his forehead against L's, close enough to easily touch. But, before they came into contact, L shuddered powerfully, and the apparition walked right into him, through him, and left him behind.

As he whirled around, the chain letting out a loud jingle, the apparition was already at the bed, standing next to it, staring down at Yagami Light. When they were like that, close enough to be viewed at the same time, the similarities seemed to grow more numerous - and those that were there before, stared to fade. In sleep, Light's face was calm and emotionless, his hair was slightly rumpled, his body was relaxed. The apparition on the other hand was tight and tense, smirking widely, dangerously. They were like a manifestation of contrasts: Light seeming almost innocent and pure whilst Kira gleamed with malice and darkness.

"Don't," L said without knowing what he meant. Don't touch him, don't get near him, don't harm him, don't possess him…?

"Why not?" The apparition chuckled without looking at him, leaning his shoulders just slightly back while pushing his hands into his trouser pockets, his entire body casual and still tense like a weapon about to be launched. "Why ever not?"

L swallowed, not knowing what to say, not knowing if he _could_ say anything. He wasn't even sure what exactly they were talking about. "Whatever you are, you have no right," he then said.

"I have every right," the apparition answered, it's grin widening, widening, turning maniacal. "I am _God_."

L frowned. "No you aren't." It couldn't be. Firstly, there was no such thing as god, there couldn't be. Any sensible god wouldn't let the world get into the state it had ended up - and L knew exactly what state the world was in. Secondly, if a god would be like Kira, then there would be nothing of the world _left_. And thirdly, if Kira was some sort of recently appeared god, then how was it that L's actions had affected his plans? Gods were supposed to be almighty, anything humans could do shouldn't be able to affect them. "You're nothing but a nightmare."

"Whose?" Kira glanced at him, eyes gleaming so strongly that they were the only thing perfectly visible in the room. "His? Yours? The world's? Or maybe I'm a nightmare God had."

If nightmares could have nightmares, they would dream of Kira, L mused with a frown. In a way, they already did. He knew, he knew so very well, what sort of effect Kira's mere existence caused in most prisons, the psychological breakdowns that many convicted criminals had already had just wondering and fearing when Kira would claim their heartbeats. The nightmare of monsters and murderers.

"Don't touch him," L said again when Kira reached for Light.

"I'm not going to do anything to _him_," the apparition answered, slowly, stiffly sitting down beside the sleeping boy. His weight didn't disturb the bed in the slightest, it left no indent, but still when he reached out, he could brush Light's bangs aside to see his closed eyes. The look of twisted fondness upon the apparition's stolen features was horrible.

L's fingers twitched. He wanted to step forward and try to push Kira away from Light - but what would that accomplish? He already had the proof of the apparition's limited corporeality. L could not touch him. He wanted to drag Kira away from the bed, chain him, throw him into a cell and imprison him forever… but how did you imprison a spectre that was likely able to walk through all solid matter? There was nothing L could do. And it was tearing him apart.

Kira glanced at him idly, Light's stolen lips stretched into a smug, satisfied smile, like sensing L's thoughts, his helplessness. Then, like dismissing the detective's importance, he looked back to Light and bowed his head. L felt the powerlessness tear holes into his psyche as he watched how Kira kissed Yagami Light, gently, delicately, like the boy was the most precious thing in the world.

Then, with a last glance and an almost victorious smirk, and without any explanation or justification, the apparition was gone, as if it had never been there. L, left behind, could only stare at still sleeping Light and seethe.


End file.
